little ponies to teams of horses

(Now that I’m back in the States, and using the Internet in the CAA office instead of the slooooow Internet in our Windsor hotel, I’ll be uploading a few more blog posts about the Royal Windsor Horse Show.)

Friday morning began with the (adorable!) in-hand classes for the wide variety of Britain’s “mountain and moorland” native pony breeds. These include everything from Shetland and Fell ponies (in the first two photos) to Exmoor, Dartmoor, Dales, Connemara, and Highland ponies … and probably a few I’m forgetting.

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Then, around midday, twenty coaches set out on their drive through the park.

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Later in the afternoon, A.J. and I stepped back in time as we visited the campsite of a group of World War II “home front” re-enactors. One of the interesting things about the gala performance every evening (celebrating the Queen’s birthday) is that many of the performers — like these re-enactors, or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the final photo — had outposts of sorts throughout the show grounds, or they would present special demonstrations and shows during the day.

Every year, the Royal Windsor Horse Show is so much more than just a horse show!